JP3074930B2 - Welding panel manufacturing equipment capable of manufacturing two or more types - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a single welded panel by welding a plurality of blank panels in a butt state. In particular, the present invention relates to a welding panel manufacturing apparatus improved so that two or more types of welding panels can be manufactured.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, if a door panel for an automobile is pressed from a single material, a considerably large area corresponding to the window is wasted, and the material cannot be effectively used. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG.
C, 22C, 24C, and 26C are butted by a welding jig 30C, and the material panel groups 20C, 22C, 24C, and 26C are welded by irradiating a welding beam (for example, a laser beam LZ) along the butting edge WL. An apparatus for manufacturing one welded panel 50C has been developed. This is disclosed in JP-A-59-220229.

[0003] Fig. 10 shows an example of a welding panel manufacturing apparatus embodying this technique. 9 shows a case of manufacturing a welding panel 50C of type C, and FIG.
An example of manufacturing the welding panel 50D of FIG. I in the figure
Is a setup section, and a material panel 20 is placed on the pallet 18D.
D, 22D, 24D, 26D, and 28D are stacked in advance. This pallet 18D has guide rails 13 and 15.
Is moved along to the material input section II. In the material input section II, the uppermost material panels 20D, 22D, and 2 of the stacked material panels are stacked by a material transfer device (not shown).
Each of 4D, 26D, and 28D is sent to welding jig 30D. In the welding jig 30D, each material panel is positioned with the edges of each material abutted as illustrated in FIG. In FIG. 10, reference numeral III denotes a welded portion, and the laser oscillator 4
The laser oscillated in 2 is irradiated through the torch 46 along the butting edge WL illustrated in FIG. As a result, a single weld panel 50D in which the material panels 20D, 22D, 24D, 26D, and 28D are welded and integrated is manufactured. The manufactured welding panel 50D is sent to the grinding unit IV by the transfer device 53. In the grinding section IV, the welding beat portion is ground with a rotary grindstone. Reference numeral V denotes a punching portion, which punches a corner portion (shown by X in FIG. 9) between the butted material panels to smoothly finish the corner portion. In FIG. 10, VI denotes a piled portion, in which processed welded panels 50 </ b> D are stacked on a trolley 86, and when a predetermined number of stacked, the guide rails 8 are stacked.
The carriage 86 is moved along 8, 90 to send the processed welding panel 50D to the next step.

[0004]

When a group of material panels is welded to produce one welded panel, the amount of waste material can be significantly reduced. However, as best shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, one manufacturing system is required for one type, and it is difficult to manufacture many types of welded panels. For example, in the device shown in FIG.
It is difficult to make Type C or Type D.

In order to be able to manufacture a plurality of types of welding panels with the apparatus shown in FIG. 10, it is necessary to move the positions of the positioning stoppers of the welding jig 30 and the positioning cylinders of the material panel in accordance with the types. It is possible to do. However, in order to irradiate the welding beam along the butt edge, since the position of the butt edge must have an accuracy of about ± 0.1 mm, the method in which the stopper position in the welding jig 30 is variable, Good welding is not secured.

Then, the welding jig 30 is prepared for each type by applying, for example, a press working technique for manufacturing various types, and the welding jig is guided in a direction orthogonal to the workpiece feeding direction. It is conceivable to provide a means so that it can be replaced with an arbitrary welding jig. However, as well shown in FIG. 10, a laser oscillator 42, a laser light guide path 44, and a laser torch 46 are scanned around the periphery of the welded portion III where the welding jig 30 is required. The mechanisms and the like are arranged in a complicated manner, and it is extremely difficult to add a means for replacing the welding jig 30 so as not to interfere with them. In particular, a plurality of laser torches 46 are arranged (in the example of FIG. 10, two torches 46B and 46F are arranged), and when the welding speed is to be improved by welding a plurality of butting edges at the same time, a welding portion is required. The structure of III becomes complicated, and it is extremely difficult to add a means for replacing the welding jig 30 so as not to interfere with the structure. If laser oscillators are arranged on both sides of the line, it is almost impossible to secure a jig exchange path. Under such circumstances, the idea of replacing the welding jig 30 is difficult to realize. Therefore, in the present invention, the present invention has been obtained in an effort to manufacture two or more types of welded panels.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided:
In a device for manufacturing a single weld panel composed of the material panel group by butt-welding a plurality of material panels with a welding jig and irradiating a welding beam along a butt edge, the welding panel to be manufactured is At least two or more trolleys on which the welding jig prepared for each type and the material panel group for the type are placed for each type, and any one of the two or more trolleys And a means for guiding the carriage to the irradiation region of the welding beam, thereby creating a welding panel manufacturing apparatus capable of manufacturing two or more types of welding panels.

[0008]

According to the apparatus of the present invention, a welding jig necessary for manufacturing a certain type of welding panel and a material panel group necessary for manufacturing the type (for example, in the case of type C) Is a material panel group consisting of four sheets of 20C, 22C, 24C, and 26C.
It is a material panel group including five sheets of 0D, 22D, 24D, 26D, and 28D. As shown in FIG. 10, the panel group may include a plurality of groups. ) Is mounted, and at least two or more carts are prepared. Then, one of the carts is guided to the irradiation area of the welding beam. Therefore, the welding jig is guided together with the material panel group to the irradiation area of the welding beam. In other words, there is no need for a welding jig exchange path separately from the material panel carry-in path. For this reason, it is possible to carry in / out a work and carry in / out a jig for exchanging a welding jig while avoiding interference with a welded portion, and two or more types of welding panels can be manufactured by one apparatus. Will be.

[0009]

An embodiment embodying the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 schematically shows the entire apparatus corresponding to FIG. 10 as viewed from the side, and FIG. 2 schematically shows a plan view. Note that the reference numbers used in FIGS. 9 and 10 are used as reference numbers indicating the same or equivalent members in this embodiment. Also, "A" directly following the reference numeral indicates that it is for type A, and "B" indicates that it is for type B. Furthermore, R in parentheses is Fig. 2.
, L indicates that it is located on the left side, and C indicates that it is located in the center. F indicates that it is located on the forward side (upper side in FIG. 2), and B indicates that it is located on the reverse side. When the suffix is omitted, it means that the description is common to all types.

First, the setup section I will be described. A pair of guide rails 2 and 4 are laid on the board of the setup section I. The guide rails 2 and 4 extend in a direction perpendicular to the workpiece transfer direction (vertical direction in FIG. 2). A self-propelled base vehicle 6 is slidably mounted on the guide rails 2 and 4. The self-propelled base vehicle 6 reciprocates between a position indicated by a solid line 6 (R) and a position indicated by a virtual line 6 (L) in FIG. Base Car 6
Two sets of a pair of guide rails 8, 10 and 12, 14 are fixed on the upper side. These guide rails 8, 10 and 12,
Numeral 14 is arranged in the transfer direction of the work. The right bogie 16R is on the right guide rails 8,10. On the left guide rails 12 and 14, a left carriage 16L is mounted. In the illustrated state of this embodiment, the right carriage 16
Material panels for type A on R (20A, 22A,
24A, 26A, and 28A) and a welding jig 30A are placed, and a state is being set in which the production is switched to the type A using the bogie 16R after the completion of the production of the type B described later. The material panel group (20A, 22A, 24
A, 26A, 28A) is the truck 1 via the pallet 18A.
It is placed on 6R. Material panel group (20A,
22A, 24A, 26A, 28A) are stacked and a plurality of groups are placed as shown in FIG. The bogie 16R is provided with an opening 17R on the tip side, and the welding jig 30A
Are mounted on the carriage 16R at both left and right ends.

A material panel group (20B, 22B, 24B, 26B, 28B) for type B is provided on the left carriage 16L.
B) and the welding jig 30B are placed. A plurality of material panel groups are stacked and placed, and a plurality of material panel groups are placed via the pallet 18B.
Similar to the case of type A, the 6L has an opening 17L and the welding jig 30B is placed on the carriage 16L at both left and right ends. As shown in FIG. 1, a transport jaw 32A described later is placed on the welding jig 30A.

A pair of left and right guide rails 36 and 38 are laid from the carry-in section II to the welded section III, and these guide rails 36 and 38 are provided for the guide rails 8, 10, 12, and 14 on the base truck 6. Both can be extended. Guide rail 1 if base car 6 is at position 6 (R)
The guide rails 8 and 10 are extended if they are located at 6 (L). In the illustrated state, the base vehicle 6 is 6 (R).
And the guide rails 36 and 38 are the guide rails 1
2 and 14 to indicate that the left bogie 16L is at the center and has advanced. This corresponds during type B manufacturing.

When the manufacture of the type B is completed, the left bogie 16L
Moves backward from the position shown in (CF) to the position shown in (CB), and then the base carriage 6 moves from 6 (R) to 6 (L). As a result, the left bogie 16L retreats to the position indicated by 16L (LB). On the other hand, for the right bogie 16R, the base bogie 6 is 6 (L).
After that, it advances to the position (CF), and is then switched to the state of manufacturing the type A. When the type A is continuously manufactured after the type A is manufactured, the left bogie 16L in the retracted position is located.
A material group for type A is placed on (LB). When switching to type B production, a material panel, a welding jig, and a conveying jaw for type B are prepared. When it is possible to switch to another type, another type is prepared. Instead of this method, the guide rails 2 and 4 may be lengthened, and the cart 16 may be prepared for each type. These methods can be arbitrarily selected in consideration of space.

The following description is based on the assumption that the truck 16L is fed into the welding beam irradiation area and the type B manufacturing is switched. That is, when the cart 16L is at the position (LB), the material panel groups 20B, 22B, 24B, 26B, 2 for the type B are placed on the cart 16L (LB).
8B, welding jig 30B, and transport jaw 3
2B is placed, and the description starts from the time when the cart 16L moves to the position indicated by 16L (CF).

A gate-shaped frame 3 is provided above the material loading section II.
4 is fixed. While the carriage 16L advances toward 16L (CF), the transport jaw 32B placed on the welding jig 30B is located immediately below the frame 34. In this state, the truck 16L temporarily stops. Dolly 1
6 is also self-propelled. In this state, the transport jaw 32B is attached to the frame 34. The frame 34 has a built-in mechanism for moving the attached conveying jaw 32 to arrows 31 and 33 in FIG. The transfer jaw 32B has a suction cup below, and the material panel groups 20B, 22B, 24B, 26
B and 28B are sucked and lifted one by one, and as shown by arrow 33, the material panel group is conveyed to the irradiation area of the welding beam. The transport jaws 32 are also replaceable because it is necessary to carry in a group of material panels having different shapes for each type of welding panel.

When the mounting of the transport jaws 32B is completed, the carriage 16L further advances and advances to the position indicated by 16L (CF). The member designated by the numeral 48 at the position III in FIG. 1 is a lifting device for the welding jig 30,
The welding jig 30 can be lifted from the carriage 16 through the opening 17. A portal frame 40 is fixed above the welded portion III. 5, the welding jig 30 is divided into an upper mold 30U and a lower mold 30D. When the welding jig 30 (both 30U and 30D) is raised by the elevating device 48 until it comes into contact with the main body frame 40, the upper die 30U is fixed to the frame 40 by a cylinder (not shown), and the lowering is prohibited. That is, when the elevating device 48 descends thereafter, only the lower mold 30D descends. As shown in FIG. 5A, the above-mentioned transport jaw 32 enters between the separated upper die 30U and lower die 30D.

The welding jig 30 is generally shown in FIGS. FIG. 3 is a view of the lower mold 30D as viewed from above, and includes stopper pins 302,
312, 316, stopper pins 304 and 306 for the material panel 22, stopper pins 314 for the material panel 24, stopper pins 320 for the material panel 26,
Stopper pins 308, 310 for the material panel 28,
318 and the like are fixedly provided. The material panel 20 is brought into contact with the stopper pins 312 and 316 by the pushing unit 350, and the stopper pin 3 is pushed by the pushing unit 351.
02. The material panel 28 is a push unit 34
9 contacts the stopper pins 310 and 318, and the push unit 347 contacts the stopper pins 308. The material panel 22 is pressed by the push unit 322 in the direction of the arrow 324 and the stopper pins 304 and 3 are pressed.
06. The material panel 24 is a push unit 32
6, the stopper pin 3 is pressed toward the arrow 328 side.
14. The material panel 26 is a push unit 33
0 to the stopper pin 3
20 abuts.

In the figure, 334 rises from below the material panel 22 to raise the center of the material panel 22. 336 in the figure
Rises from below the material panel 24 to raise the center of the material panel 24. In the figure, reference numeral 338 rises from below the material panel 26 to raise the center of the material panel 26.

In the figure, reference numeral 340 denotes a clamp for positioning the material panel 20, 342 denotes a clamp for positioning the material panel 22, 344 denotes a clamp for positioning the material panel 24, and 3
Reference numeral 46 denotes a positioning clamp for the material panel 26, and reference numeral 348 denotes a positioning clamp for the material panel 28.
It is attached to U. A base plate 399 is attached to the lower die 30D at a position corresponding to the clamp.

On the side of the upper mold 30U, each clamp 340,
342, 344, 346, and 348 are attached to the gas spring, and when the lower die 30D rises, the material panel is pressed and positioned between the clamp and the base plate at a constant pressure. The upper unit 30U has a lifting unit 3
Each material panel 22, 2 on both sides of 34, 336, 338
It has a pressing roller 352 (shown in FIG. 4) that presses the pressing rollers 4 and 26.

As shown in FIG. 5 (A), the transport jaw 32 is located at the rear, and one of the sheets located at the top of the stack of the material panels placed on the pallet 18 is placed. Each material panel (20,22,24,26,2
8) is vacuum suctioned, and the material panel group is transported into a welding jig vertically separated as shown in FIG. At this time, if the welded panel 50 has already been formed in the welding jig 30, the welded panel 50 is located on the right side of FIG. The panel 50 is sent out onto the conveyor 52 which is in operation. That is, by moving the transport jaw 32, the loading of the new material panel group into the welding jig and the unloading of the welded panel 50 are simultaneously performed. When the conveying jaw 32 enters the welding jig, the vacuum suction is stopped, and the material panel group is placed on the lower mold 30D. Next, as shown in FIG. 5 (B), the elevator 48 rises and the upper die 30U and the lower die 30D are placed in a predetermined positional relationship.

In this state, the operation from A to G in FIG. 4 is executed in the welding jig. When the lower mold 30D rises, first the upper mold 3
The pressing roller 352 on the 0U side is connected to the material panels 22, 24,
26 is pressed against the base plate 399 (B). Next, the raising units 334, 336, and 338 are raised, and the central portions of the material panels 22, 24, and 26 are curved upward (C).
This is performed within the elastic limit of each material panel. At the same time, the push panels 350, 351, 349, 347 push the material panels 20, 28 on both sides to stopper pins 312, 31.
6,302,308,310,318 (C)
. As a result, the material panels 20, 28 on both sides are positioned (C).

Next, as the lower mold is raised, the positioned material panels 20, 28 are clamped and fixed between the clamps 340, 348 and the base plate 399 (D). Next, the push units 322, 326, and 330 operate to move the material panels 22, 24, and 26 into the stopper pins 304, 306, and 3 respectively.
14, 320 (E). As a result, the material panels 22, 24, 26 are positioned. Next, the pressing rollers 338 and 352 are retracted, and the materials 22, 24,
Release the 26 bends (F). At this time, both side panels 2
The edges of 0, 28 and the other panels 22, 24, 26 are well butted. When the ascending to the lower mold further proceeds, the material panels 22, 24, 26 are clamped 342, 344, 3
46 and the base plate 399 so as to be clamped and fixed (G).

When the edges of the material panel are brought into contact in the welding jig 30 as described above, the welding torch 46 is then scanned along the butt line WL as shown in FIG. A welding process is performed. The upper mold 30U has this torch 4
An opening is provided so as not to hinder the scanning of No. 6.

The torch 46 is programmed to scan along a butt edge defined for each type of weld panel. When the type is switched, the scanning route is also switched. A magnetic sensor is incorporated in the torch 46, and the position of the butting edge is detected by the magnetic sensor, and the butting edge is accurately copied. The details of this technique are disclosed in JP-A-59-1413.
No. 91. The apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has four laser oscillators 42LF, 42LB, 42R.
F, 42RB, 4 torches 46LF, 46L
The butting edges WL are welded by B, 46RF and 46RB. For this reason, welding is performed at four times the speed of a single torch. Each laser oscillator 4
2 and each torch 46 are connected by a light guide path 44.

As described above in connection with FIG.
When the material panel group is welded to produce the welding panel 50, the welding panel 50 is sent out onto the conveyor 52 together with the carry-in jaws 32. While the welding process is completed and the lower mold 30D is descending, the lifter 398 in the lower mold 30D is raised, and the welded panel 50 is moved to the lower mold 30D.
Lifted upward from D. For this purpose, the transport jaw 32
The panel 50 is smoothly carried out onto the conveyor 52 by the arm 33. The conveyor 52 sends out the welding panel 50 to the grinding section IV. The grinding unit IV has a conveyor 54 above as shown in FIG. 1, and the conveyor 54 magnetically attracts the welding panel 50 and conveys it to a position above the grinding machine 55. Into the grinding machine 55.

As shown in FIG. 2, the positioning cylinders 56, 58,
60, 62 and 64 can be moved in the directions shown by arrows. The forward end positions of these cylinders are variable for each type of welding panel 50, and the welding edges of each welding panel are positioned on the scanning lines of the grinding heads 66, 68. The grinding head 66 (same for 68) is shown in FIG. 6, and rollers 666 and 668 are rotatable at the tip of a guide 664. The rotary grindstone 6 inside the guide 664
70 is rotated at high speed by a motor 662. Fig. 6 (a)
As is best shown in FIG.
It is slightly smaller (0.05 mm in this embodiment) than 6,668. Therefore, the weld bead WLB is ground without unnecessarily damaging the surface of the weld panel 50. Each of the grinding heads 66 and 68 is controlled to move in three axes, and is programmed to move along a welding line for each type of welding panel.

The grindstone 670 has a width of less than 10 mm, and satisfactorily grinds even if the position of the weld bead WLB is shifted left and right within this width. For this reason, the positioning device 5 of the welding panel 50
No. 6, 58, 60, 62, and 64 need only be inspected to the extent that the forward end position is numerically controlled, and there is no need to replace the positioning jig for each type of welding panel.

The welded panel 50 ground by the grinder 55 is lifted by a lift (not shown), then sucked by the conveyor 54 again, and delivered to the conveyor 70 at the punching section V. In the punching portion V, rails 78 and 80 are laid in a direction intersecting with the transport direction of the workpiece, in this case, the welding panel 50, as is well shown in FIG. A punching unit 76 prepared for each type of welding panel is mounted on the rails 78 and 80. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a state in which the punching unit 76B for the type B is set in the punching section V because the type B is being manufactured. Although the punching unit 76 is prepared for each type, a common punching unit can be used for a welding panel having a left-right inverted shape.

In each punching unit 76, two sets of punching heads 72 and 74 are incorporated so that both left and right symmetric panels can be machined. Only one of the punching heads 72 is in the operating position and the other is in the retracted position. It is about to become. In the case of FIGS. 1 and 2, it is shown that 72 is in the operating position.

The welding panel 50 conveyed by the conveyor 70 is put into a punching unit 76 and
Positioning is performed in substantially the same manner as in step 5. Here, since the punching units 76 are prepared for each type, accurate positioning is performed. When positioning is completed, FIG.
, The punch 724 advances toward the die 726, and the protruding end of the welding panel 50 is smoothly cut off. FIG. 8 shows that the welding panel 50E of the type E is X1 to X by the punching head 72E.
5 shows an example in which the corner portion shown in FIG. 5 is smoothly cut off. Since the punching head 74B performs punching at a symmetrical position across the symmetry line CL, a symmetrical welding panel can be processed by one punching unit.

The welding panel 50 whose protruding end is cut off by the punching unit 76 is lifted by a lift (not shown), sucked again by the conveyor 70, and delivered to the next conveyor 82. A pair of bogie traveling rails 8 is provided in the pile section VI.
8, 90 are laid, and a carriage 86 can run there. Walls 84 are erected on four sides of the cart 86, and the processed welding panel 50 is piled up in the walls 84. When a predetermined number of pile-ups are performed, the truck 86 travels toward the next step, and the next empty truck travels to the piling section. Alternatively, two trolleys may be used alternately.

As is apparent from the above description, the conveying jaw 32, the welding jig 30, and the material panel groups 20, 22,
As the 24, 26, 28 and the punching unit 76, unique units are used depending on the type of the welded panel to be manufactured.
In addition, welding torch 46, positioning of grinding machine 56, 58, 6
0, 62, 64 and the grinding heads 66, 68 are controlled by different programs for each type. In other words, for items requiring high precision, such as positioning of material panels for welding and positioning of welding panels for punching, the required accuracy is ensured by replacing the jigs, while welding during grinding In the case of relatively coarse accuracy such as panel alignment, it is possible to respond to the type by numerically controlling the stopper position.

The transport jaws 32 may be adapted to each type by moving the suction cup position. However, the jaw structure is simplified by replacing each jaw. In addition, by exchanging the jaws, it is possible to cope with a type in which the number of material panel groups is different.

In this embodiment, an arbitrary truck is connected to the welding beam by the base truck 6 running on the rails 2 and 4 and the rails 36 and 38 extending to the rails 8, 10, 12 and 14 on the base truck 6. Means for guiding to the irradiation area are provided.
However, this is only an example, and it is possible to guide any truck 16 to the irradiation area of the welding beam in various other ways.

[0036]

According to the present invention, since the welding jig which cannot maintain the required accuracy unless the jig is replaced is guided to the irradiation area of the welding beam simultaneously with the loading of the material panel group, the welding jig is diversified. It is possible to replace a welding jig used in an irradiation area of a welding beam, where a special device is disposed and the jig cannot be normally replaced. Therefore, two or more types of welded panels can be manufactured for the first time according to the present invention. According to the present invention, two or more types can be manufactured by one apparatus, and the production efficiency is greatly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a state of an apparatus according to an embodiment when viewed from a side.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a state in which the apparatus according to the embodiment is viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a state in which a lower mold of a welding jig is viewed from above.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state of being positioned by a welding jig.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing one cycle of movement of a welding jig.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing details of a grinding head.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing details of a punching unit.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a punching portion.

FIG. 9 shows a conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

20,22,24,26,28; Material panel group 30; Welding jig III; Welding beam irradiation part (weld part) 50; Welding panel 16L, 16R; Two carts 2,4,6,8,10 , 12,14,36,38; Guide means

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI B23K 37/04 B23K 37/04 J (72) Inventor Fumi Natsumi 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Inside Toyota Motor Corporation (72) Inventor Toshiro Shiraki 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Inside Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-59-220229 (JP, A) JP-A-58-137595 (JP, U) JP-A-1-89882 ( JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B23K 37/00-37/04 B23K 26/00-26/10

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus for producing a single welded panel composed of a group of material panels by buttping a plurality of material panels with a welding jig and irradiating a welding beam along a butt edge. At least two or more trucks on which the welding jig prepared for each type of welding panel to be manufactured and the material panel group for the type are placed for each type, and the two or more trucks A means for guiding any one of the carts to the irradiation area of the welding beam, whereby two or more types of welded panels can be manufactured.